Albany Great Danes
The Albany Great Danes Basketball team is the basketball team that represent the University at Albany, The State University of New York in Albany, New York. The school's team currently competes in the America East Conference and plays its home games at SEFCU Arena. The team played in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in both 2006 and 2007, and are currently coached by Will Brown. Team history The Early Years: "Doc" Sauers Richard “Doc” Sauers served as Great Danes men's basketball coach from 1955-1997. He led the program to eleven NCAA and four NAIA post-season tournament appearances in his tenure. Sauers finished his career with a 702-330 record in 41 seasons. Sauers achieved the 700-win mark on February 8, 1997 in an 89-71 victory over the University of Bridgeport. He would retire one month later and be inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2004. A banner is flown in the rafters of the SEFCU Arena honoring Sauers accomplishment of 702 wins. The college is also planning on naming the court at SEFCU Arena in his name in the near future. The 2005-06 Season: "Why Not Us?" On March 11, 2006, the men's basketball team won the America East conference tournament, earning the school (and the SUNY system) its first ever berth to the NCAA Tournament, defeating the University of Vermont 80-67 in a sold out RACC. The Great Danes were seeded #16 in the Washington, D.C. region and were matched up against top-seeded UConn. Despite the #16 seed being 0-87 before Albany took the floor, Head Coach Will Brown believed that his team had a chance to beat UConn in the tournament. With that, the team took the motto, "Why Not Us?". On March 17, 2006, the Danes nearly became the first #16 seed to defeat a #1 seed in the Division I tournament. The Danes, down only 1 at the half, went on a 13-0 run early in the second half to take a double-digit lead over the Huskies. With the game televised on CBS, the Danes led 50-38 with just over 11 minutes left in the game. However, a late run by the Huskies' stifling defense stopped the Danes' offense, and the Huskies averted the upset, winning 72-59. The play against UConn gave the program instant notoriety. The 2006-07 Season: "Lucky 13" In the 2006-07 season, the Great Danes faced a much stronger America East conference. The Great Danes would accomplish a 20-9 regular season, but be the #2 seed in the conference tournament. This forced the Great Danes to travel to Vermont, who was the #1 seed for the conference championship, and were previously 0-7. On March 10, 2007, the Danes' won their second consecutive America East title beating Vermont 60-59 in the conference final on a last second steal by Carl Ross and Brent Wilson. The Great Danes would be seeded 13th in the South Division of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Creating a new motto "Lucky 13" which was worn on T-Shirts sold on campus. On March 16, 2007 two busses carrying approximately 80 students would drive a total of 11 hours to see their Danes at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio to see the #13 seed lose to the #4 seed Virginia Cavaliers 84-57 in the first round of the Tournament. Prior to the conclusion of the season, the program would retire the number 31 of player Jamar Wilson. Wilson finished his career as the school’s all-time scorer with 2,164 points, plus ranked second in assists with 488. Wilson also became the first player in school history to score 500 points or more in three different seasons. He would also win two America East Player of the Year Awards, something only three other people in conference history had achieved. No athlete in the program's history has had their number retired prior. The 2008-09 Season: UAlbany Hosts the Tourney With only two of their remaining pieces from the "Why Not Us?" team still intact, Brian Connelly and Jimmie Covington, the Danes would look to rebuild with eight newcomers to the team. They would start the season 0-2 after matchups with Big East opponents Villanova and DePaul in "homecoming" games for their seniors. A 5-0 run after the slow start would put the Danes' in prime position to upset their crosstown rival Siena Saints, who had just endured 3 loses over 4 days at the 2008 Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Florida. However the Danes' would fall short by seven points. The Great Danes would win three of their next four games including a game postponed for snow and difficult travel conditions in Fairfield, Connecticut against Sacred Heart before closing out the calendar year against the defending national champions Kansas Jayhawks. The purple-and-gold squad would fall behind early and not show any signs of life against the Jayhawks, in a 79-43 loss on nationally televised ESPNU. Entering conference play the Danes had an 8-5 record before falling to 8-6 and 0-1 in the conference with a loss to Hartford Hawks, after heading home the team would rebound with a last second win against conference favorite Boston U. Terriers 62-61 and also giving coach Will Brown his 100th career victory as head coach of the team. Following Brown's 100th win, the team would win for the third consecutive time in Burlington, Vermont, beating the heavily favored Catamounts by a score of 82-77, the team would then return home to beat I-88 rival Binghamton by a score of 72-66. However the team would struggle down the remainder of the conference schedule, winning only 3 of their final 12 conference games. With the America East Conference Tournament at SEFCU Arena for the first time in Albany's 9 year history as a member of the conference; the Great Danes would head into the tournament as the #7 seed with a 6-10 conference record, and face the #2 seeded Catamounts yet again. Prior to the 2009 season the #7 seed had gone 0-23 in games against the #2 overall seed, however Albany would prevail and upset the higher seeded Catamounts 56-52, but would lose to UMBC in the semi-finals. Other tournament games included the #8-9 matchup in which the Hartford Hawks would beat Maine on Friday, March 6 to advance to a matchup against top-seeded Binghamton. The Bearcats would then beat the Hawks, and other semi-final games included UMBC upsetting the 3rd seeded Boston U. Terriers, and the UNH Wildcats would beat Stony Brook in the #4-5 matchup. The other Sunday semi-final matchup had #1 Binghamton beat #4 New Hampshire. Binghamton hosted UMBC on Saturday March 14 on ESPN2 for the 2009 Championship. Coaches Current Coaching Staff *'Head Coach' - Will Brown (Dowling, 1995) *'Assistant Coach' - Pat Filien (Saint Rose, 1993) *'Assistant Coach' - Chad O'Donnell (Springfield, 1994) *'Assistant Coach' - Jeremy Friel (New Hampshire, 2005) *'Director of Basketball Operations' - Brent Wilson (UAlbany, 2008) *'Graduate Assistant' - Josh Pelletier (Saint Rose, 2009) All-Time Head Coaches Retired numbers 31 - Jamar Wilson (2002–07) 702 - Richard “Doc” Sauers (1955–97) All-Time Records, Standings & Statistics Coaching Records & Standings All-Time Results on National Television ESPNU Bracketbuster & Return Games Big Purple Growl Results All-Time Leaders Points Assists Rebounds 2005-06 schedule and results (men) 2005-06 schedule and results (women) Conference membership history *America East Conference (2001-present) All-time records Men *All-time overall record: 803-496 (0.618) *AEC Record: 20-46 (0.303) Women External links *School website *Official athletics website Category:NCAA Division I schools Category:America East Conference members Category:Schools in New York